Is it safe to install 6 hull ports? 3 on each pontoon, a foot beofre the front pylon, a foot behind the rear pylon, and on in the center of the tramp on both pontoons. Will this hurt the boat structurally? the rason i want to do this is, I hear something LONG rattling inside my starboard pontoon, I was fixing the delamination on the side of the pontoon, and when I was checking the depth of the holes I found several holes that I had made go all the way through, but not all the way through! so i put a long and skinnier drill bit in the holes and was able to push on a piece of something from the center of the pontoon and it moves a ling stick of somekind all the way down the center of the side of the pontoon... I hope you understand what i'm saying... anyways.. i want to put ports in my pontoons to inspect the insides of the walls to complete my repair and restoration of the hulls... Also what can I do to hide the holes before I repaint with the polurathane paint?

I usually just go by "JaimeZX" but for some reason my JaimeZX registration didn't work so I had to go with "version 2."

Anyway, I'm in San Angelo right now. I just sail on Lake Nasworthy here. I've been thinking about going somewhere else one of these days. I wanted to go down to Corpus for the long Columbus Day weekend but I wound up not being able to afford it.

Anyway maybe we can meet up somewhere one of these weekends if the weather is warm.

Port hulls - It is not so much the # of port hulls - it is more their location and size. Try to keep them as small as possible... Avoid cutting a hole in fort of the front pylon. In between the pylons or behind the pylons are good locations in terms of structural integrity and in order to air out the hulls. Those locations are not really convenient to access if you try to store stuff in the hulls.

Object inside the hull - It is probably a loose foam flotation. From reading about it, it seems it does not matter too much with a Hobie hull. You might not need to cut a porthole to fix this issue. There are some pics posted by some one who cut a couple of old Hobie 16 hulls apart. Those pics give a good idea how the areas around the pylons look like.
O.K. I searched and found those ... http://www.thebeachcats.com/modules.php ... _album.php...They are from a 14 but that should give you an idea of what to expect.

Spots to sail - There are plenty of perfect Hobie places down on the gulf (about 2 hours from SA) Check out the Laguna Madre are for the beginning especially bird island basin.

I had been on it once on a keel boat and it was very squirrelly. Part of why I was asking is I only remember one beach area. I visit SA several times a year and wondered if it was worth dragging my boat with me. I sail on Lake Cheney near Wichita KS. Great wind, great beaches, wide open. Today we are supposed to gust into the thirtys all day with steady wind around 23 mph. My 17 is upside down waiting on mat to set up on the inside of my decks. So it is a keelboat day for me.

cklepinger and Jamie,
I just wanted to let you guys know that we are going to be sailing Canyon Lake on November 6-7. It is the Wurstfest regatta. They are planning on doing some bouy racing both days. If you guys can come down, or up, we would love to see you there.
I noticed in another post someone was asking about the winds at Nasworthy. Jamie could probably give you some better input, but I lived there for 20 someodd years and the winds are great. That is if the weather itself is great. The biggest drawback is the #@&*! bridge and the depth of the lake itself. I sail an 18 and if I were to turtle I would probably stick on the bottom. If you are sailing a 16, 14, Getaway, or something small I don't think you will have a problem. For the kind of drive you are talking about though, I would make sure I check the weather first.
As for sailing Canyon, it can be fun. The lake is well larger than Nasworthy and lots deeper. The winds are subject to help. If they are good, then everything is good. If they are light, then they are extremely shifty and unpredictable. Heavy winds, hold on and have a blast.
Also, I have two Hobie 18s that I am planning on taking to Canyon on the 6-7. One of the 18s has a skipper and crew, but the other 18 is available if someone would like to try it out. There are a bunch of people down here wanting to crew, but no one wants to skipper. Feel free, if you would like to skipper an 18 just bring a trap harness or two and come on down. Use her for the weekend. If you have someone that is your normal crew bring them to. Most of the people that are here wanting to crew have little exposure to sailing. They really just want to fly hull and hang on the trap.
If you want to actually race here is where you can find the Notice of Race form. www.lcyc.net Just click on the Wurstfest pic. However, if you don't want to race, just come on down and check it out. Some of the best 16 sailors will be there along with many of the best sailors in Texas.
Keep the pointy end up...
Mike